Midnight Blues
by BlissAndHurricanes
Summary: It was the fifth time Teresa Lisbon was leaving earlier than usual on a Friday evening. Had it been anyone else, Patrick Jane wouldn't have found this intriguing, but Teresa Lisbon wasn't anyone ... Written for the August Paint it Red Challenge : Blue


_**Author's note** **#1**: This story was written for the August Paint it Red Challenge : Blue.  
Maybe is it a little far-fetched, but I think it's still in the theme :)  
__**Author's note** **#2** : "Midnight Blues" is an amazing song from the Irish bluesman Gary Moore._

* * *

**Midnight Blues**

It was the fifth time Teresa Lisbon was leaving earlier than usual on a Friday evening.

Had it been anyone else, Patrick Jane wouldn't have found this intriguing, but Teresa Lisbon wasn't anyone when it came to work hours.

He knew he shouldn't spy on her private life, after all, if she was dating someone it was a good thing.

However, something was bothering him.

She seemed to feel more confident and happier. Her clothes were slightly different, she looked more feminine and was even humming sometimes.

There was something new in her life, something he couldn't find out and Patrick Jane really disliked being clueless.

So, when she walked past him that very evening, trying to ignore his curious gaze, and a paper felt from one pocket of her jacket, he didn't hurry to reach it nor run to give it back to her.

Instead, he waited patiently until she left the room.

Then, slowly, he stood up from his couch and walked to pick the little paper up.

It was a small card, with a blurred picture of a piano surrounded by a light blue fog.

**Midnight Blues Bar.**  
**Blues, Jazz, and Rock'n'Roll.**

Brows furrowed, Jane stood a couple of minutes studying the little paper between his fingers.

Good old fashioned blues didn't sound to be Lisbon's style of music.

Maybe was she only meeting friends there? Maybe not…

Heck, he couldn't help it, he was terribly curious!  
He _needed_ to know what Lisbon was doing every Friday night at 9 o'clock in a bar called the Midnight Blues.

However, he knew she would be mad at him if she knew he was spying on her little secrets.

This is how, fighting his urge to know, he decided to leave the CBI and go to his motel room. He needed a good night sleep and he knew he couldn't find the arms of Morpheus if he stayed so close to Lisbon's office.

His mind would never calm down and would keep on imaging what she could possibly do in a blues bar. At least, if he was in a neutral bedroom, curiosity would leave him.

Rarely had he been so wrong.

After hours of turning in his bed, pacing in the little room and trying to watch to TV, Patrick Jane came to the sad conclusion that he couldn't find any sleep.

Even in the small motel room, he couldn't stop imagining Lisbon's night.

Was she having a drink with friends he didn't know?

Was she in love with a bluesman playing at the bar every Friday?

Was _she_ playing blues in a band?  
No definitely this last idea was absurd, Lisbon didn't like being at the centre of everyone's attention.

Then another idea struck him, maybe was she following a lead about Red John she didn't tell him about in order to protect him.

Despite the fact that Jane perfectly knew Lisbon would tell him if she had any breakthrough in the Red John case, this last though of her alone and in danger definitely prevented him from sleeping.

Giving up on the idea of getting any rest, Patrick Jane finally decided to go for a walk in the streets of Sacramento.  
Fresh air would help him relax.

* * *

Despite the city lights, the deep blue sky was sparkling with a multitude of stars.

He loved blue, it was calm and peaceful, somewhat nostalgic, like blues songs.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't immediately notice it.

It sounded like guitar.

Yes, with a deep man's voice, soft and strong at the same time.

Blues.

Looking around him, his eyes caught a flashing sign on the opposite street.

"Midnight Blues Bar" was shining intermittently in black and blue.

He had tried, sincerely tried to leave Lisbon alone and allow her some privacy, but it seemed it was impossible.  
Now he was here, he _had_ to look for her.

He crossed the road, walked a little bit more and finally stopped in front of a wooden door.

He could hear laughers and glasses clinking, bathed in blues music.

He opened the door and was suddenly surrounded by blues atmosphere, soft and deep.

His heart clenched a little. An old, sad blues music, probably about a lost love.

He did love blues, but sometimes it was bringing back sad memories.

"Welcome to the Gary Moore special night sweetheart, a drink?"

Lost in his nostalgic thoughts, Jane almost jumped and then turned around towards a woman.

She seemed to be in her mid sixties, blond and thin, with a little grin and hungry eyes looking all over Jane.

Taken aback, he quickly regained his composure and smiled back at the woman.

"Well, I do love blues, and Mister Moore was indeed a great musician, but I am here to meet a friend, and …"

He cast a quick glance all around the wooden bar.

"I am afraid I don't see her."

"And what is the name of such a lucky woman?"

"Teresa Lisbon. Do you know her?"

The eyes of the woman slightly went rounded as she seemed surprised by his answer.

"Of course I do sweetheart, but the lesson is not ended yet so I'm afraid you'll have to wait for her a little bit more."

Jane furrowed his brows. He didn't understand.

"The lesson?"

The woman smiled at him.

"Oh ! You don't know, do you?"

She chuckled.

"Alright, you are a handsome man and God forgives me, young men such attractive as you have always been my weakness."

She winked at him.

"Walk to the back door over there."

She pointed one finger towards the back of the room.

"It is private so try not to draw attention on you. Walk to the back room behind the curtain, but do not disturb lesson! Understood?"

Jane slowly nodded at the woman, a little bit lost.

All of this was … strange.

What kind of "lesson" Lisbon could possibly have in a blues bar at – he looked at his watch – soon midnight?

He thanked the woman and quickly headed towards the back door.

He entered a dark corridor and the door now closed muffled the sound of the music from the bar.

But soon, another music reached his ears.

He followed the sound, and walked as silently as possible towards its direction.

The rhythm sounded quite calm and old fashioned.

He kept on walking in the dark place, slowly, trying his best not to collide anything, and was surprised to find himself just in front of a heavy deep blue curtain.

The song was louder now and he could fully hear it.

Blues again, but wait…

It was not the sad or melancholic kind of blues.

No, this song was a slow, sexy, teasing blues.

He was about to touch the curtain to have a look inside the room when the music stopped and he heard a voice.

"No, you have to be less rigid. Try to relax, imagine you are alone. We won't judge you, you are here to learn, like the others. We worked 1 hour together, now you have to show me what you learnt, without the others. Feel yourself, feel the music… Alright, let's start again."

Then the same blues song started again. Saxophone or, trumpet maybe?

Then drums, pom tchic - one two three four five six - pom tchic…

His curiosity thoroughly aroused, Jane tried to cast a glance inside the room.

He slightly drew the curtain and bent his head on one side.

Four young women were sitting on chairs and one older woman – strangely similar to the lady who sent him here – was standing, watching to the opposite side of the room he couldn't see.

Jane slightly moved to the right to have a better view of what those women were intently looking at.

And then, he saw _her_.

_Baby take off your coat  
Real slow  
Take off your shoes  
I'll take off your shoes  
Baby take off your dress  
Yes, yes, yes  
_

Lisbon.

His mouth went dry and his heart rate increased.

Lisbon was standing on a podium, bathed in a dim blue light.

He could hardly see her face but he _knew_ it was her.

She was wearing black leather heeled boots with very short … shorts. Black as well.

A white little shirt with a knot at the level of the navel.

And a red tie.

She slowly turned around, her dishevelled hair quickly floating in the air as she walked in a way Jane had _never _seen her doing so.

Her hips followed the teasing pace of the music while one of her hand sensually caressed her neck, then her shoulder, then her waist …

_Go over there, turn on the light  
Hey, all the lights  
Come over here, stand on that chair  
Yeah, that's right_

Then, slowly, she stretched one arm and grabbed ... a pole.

Teresa Lisbon, senior agent of the CBI was learning pole-dancing every Friday night from 9 o'clock to midnight at the Midnight Blues Bar.

Jane felt tightness in his chest and troubles breathing.

She sensually caressed the pole and slowly walked around it, her slim and shapely legs wonderfully highlighted by her heeled black boots and her thin black tights.

_You give me reason to live  
You give me reason to live  
You give me reason to live  
You give me reason to live!_

Then, she grabbed the pole with both hands and slowly bent her head back, softly biting her bottom lip and closing her eyes.

Her long curly hair was slightly coloured by the dim blue light as she slowly moved her body to the rhythm of the music

_Sweet darling,  
You can leave your hat on  
Baby,  
You can leave your hat on  
_

Arching her back, she seemed like a priestess in trance worshiping an ancient pagan deity.

Shadows danced all over her body as she slowly straighten, finally opening her eyes.

_Suspicious minds are talkin'  
They're tryin' to tear us apart  
They don't believe in this love of mine  
They don't know what love is_

She turned her back against the pole and extended one arm, then the other, upon her head to grab the pole once again. She was like and offering to the Gods, willing to give her body for the sake of humanity.

_Yeah, I know what love is  
There ain't no way  
You can leave your hat on  
Give me the reason to live!  
You can leave your hat on…  
__You can leave your hat on…_

The sound of the music gradually lowered, the light went slightly brighter and the dim blue slowly vanished.

Lisbon movements slowed as well and she stopped dancing eventually.

The show was over.

A shy smile at the corner of her lips, she quickly looked at the women in the room and went down the podium, struggling a little.

She seemed a little embarrassed and cast a glance all around the room in an attempt to seem more confident.

That's when she met his gaze.

Panicked, Jane missed a heart beat, closed the curtains in a hurry and quickly walked back.

Brows furrowed and intrigued, Lisbon began to walk to the curtain but was suddenly stopped by the women congratulating her.

The younger ones hugged her and sincerely smiled at her while the older lady complimented her on how she improved her pole-dancing skills in only a few lessons.

A little surprised, Lisbon cast a last look at the curtain but finally relaxed and smiled back at them.

* * *

"Jane, where were you last Friday night?"

Lisbon tone was sharp and suspicious and she didn't take the time to kindly wake him up.

Still half asleep in his couch, Jane opened one sleepy eye and rubbed his face.

"What?"

"Last Friday, what did you do?"

He looked at her above him and slightly smiled.

"My, you seem curious about my private life Lisbon, are you spying on me now?"

"Don't try to fool me Jane, I _know_ you where there"

"I… I don't know what you're talking about Lisbon, but if you really need to know, I was in my motel room, alone, trying to get some rest."

She peered into his eyes a couple of seconds and straightened up.

"Alright."

He smiled and streched a little in the couch.

"And you, where were you last Friday night?"

She sent him a cold look.

"Are you spying on me now?"

He held up his hands in front of him in an attempt to seem innocent.

"I wouldn't dare trying such a perilous thing dear!"

"Good."

She was already walking to her office when he called her.

"Oh Lisbon by the way, I found this, is it yours?"

He waved the little blue paper between his fingers in the air.

Brows furrowed, she quickly walked back to him and grasped it.

She cast a quick look at the card and gave it back to Jane.

"Mhh nope, not mine. I don't like blues anyway."

She looked at him with this fake innocent look he perfectly knew, then turned her back and walked away.

Lying on his couch and watching her entering her office, Jane widely smiled.

He knew where he would be next Friday...

Definitely, he loved blues.

* * *

**_Reviews are always welcome, please review !  
(English is not my mother langage so I am very curious to know what you think about my writing ^^ )  
_**

_PS : Lisbon's song is entitled "You can leave your hat on", from the English bluesman Joe Co__cker_**_.  
_**_Listen to it while reading, you'll love __it ;)_**_  
_**


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